PPT Master writes page transitions and optional element object animations as real PowerPoint OOXML, not embedded video. Object animation includes entrance, emphasis, motion-path, and exit effects. This guide covers the choices and commands users need; exact effect mappings, the complete sidecar schema, anchor rules, and package validation live in the animation execution reference.
| Layer | Default | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Page transition | fade, 0.4 seconds |
Slides change with a restrained visual transition |
| Element object animation | none (off) |
Each slide appears as a complete page; opt in only when motion helps the presentation |
Changing animation settings does not require regenerating the slides. Reuse the
same svg_output/; default release export still requires its current passing
final SVG quality report. When no current matching passing final report exists,
run the final checker and resolve its blockers before rerunning svg_to_pptx.py.
| Goal | Command |
|---|---|
| Keep the defaults | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> |
| Change the page transition | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> -t push |
| Remove the visual transition | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> -t none |
| Auto-advance every 5 seconds | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> --auto-advance 5 |
| Enable automatic element reveals | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> -a auto |
| Use one entrance effect throughout | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> --animation entrance_fade |
| Reveal elements on click | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> -a auto --animation-trigger on-click |
| Animate all elements together | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> -a auto --animation-trigger with-previous |
| Slow the reveal sequence | python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project> -a auto --animation-duration 0.5 --animation-stagger 0.8 |
| Relationship between adjacent slides | Start with |
|---|---|
| Ordinary continuation within one section | fade |
| Immediate change with no continuity to preserve | none or cut |
| Directional steps, timeline, or visible layer progression | push, wipe, cover, or uncover with a meaningful direction |
| The same object or scene changes position, size, crop, or appearance | morph |
| Section opening, key reveal, or marked state boundary | A selective split, reveal, shape, flash, or random_bars |
| A repeated collection advances through one spatial frame | pan, conveyor, or ferris_wheel; use Morph when individual objects must retain identity |
| The viewpoint travels around or through a continuous space | rotate, window, orbit, or fly_through |
| The theme supports a stage, paper, or physical-page metaphor | A selective fall_over, drape, curtains, wind, prestige, peel_off, page_curl, airplane, origami, or doors |
| A disruptive beat represents breakage, collapse, or dispersal | A selective fracture, crush, dissolve, vortex, or shred |
| A marked reveal benefits from a geometric, timed, or textured pattern | A selective checkerboard, blinds, clock, ripple, honeycomb, glitter, or comb |
| A card, panel, gallery, or viewpoint visibly turns or changes face | A selective switch, flip, gallery, cube, box, or zoom |
Keep fade or none when no other transition adds meaning. Do not change
effects merely to create variety; random is appropriate only when
unpredictability is itself intentional.
The 48 canonical transition keys cover all three sections in the current PowerPoint gallery:
- Subtle:
morph,fade,push,wipe,split,reveal,cut,random_bars,shape,uncover,cover,flash. - Exciting:
fall_over,drape,curtains,wind,prestige,fracture,crush,peel_off,page_curl,airplane,origami,dissolve,checkerboard,blinds,clock,ripple,honeycomb,glitter,vortex,shred,switch,flip,gallery,cube,doors,box,comb,zoom,random. - Dynamic Content:
pan,ferris_wheel,conveyor,rotate,window,orbit,fly_through.
The old names strips, circle, diamond, newsflash, plus, pull,
wedge, and wheel remain accepted only as compatibility inputs. New
sidecars, plans, traces, and output use canonical keys. Compatibility inputs
desugar into a native effect plus its Effect Options—for example, diamond
becomes shape with shape: diamond, and wedge becomes clock with
style: wedge.
Set effect-specific PowerPoint options in
transition.effect_options. Direction, shape, pattern, Morph scope, black
screen, page count, and bounce are validated against the selected effect.
Run
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/pptx_animations.py --describe-transition <effect>
for the exact values. -t none removes the visual effect but does not remove
an explicitly configured auto-advance timer.
| Start mode | Behavior | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
on-click |
One content group appears per click | Live presentations where the speaker controls pacing |
with-previous |
All content groups animate together when the slide appears | A single coordinated entrance |
after-previous (default) |
Groups appear sequentially without clicks | Kiosk playback, walkthroughs, and narrated decks |
--recorded-narration does not support on-click; use after-previous or with-previous for narrated or video-ready output.
Start with none. When object motion has a communication job, choose its
lifecycle before its visual effect:
| Communication job | Choice | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Reveal information in reading or narration order | auto or a native entrance_* key |
This is the usual object-animation case |
| Redirect attention to an already visible object | An explicit emphasis_* key |
Do not use it as the object's first reveal |
| Show meaningful spatial or causal movement | An explicit path_* key, or Morph across adjacent slides |
The path itself should carry meaning; deliberate background ambience is an advanced exception |
| Remove, replace, or make room for content on the same slide | An explicit exit_* key |
A normal slide change already removes the old page |
| Add deterministic or seeded variation to generic entrances | mixed or random |
These modes still select entrance effects only |
| No clear motion task | none |
Keep the slide static |
The canonical registry contains 203 PowerPoint-native keys: 53 entrance, 33
emphasis, 64 motion path, and 53 exit presets. New selections, sidecars,
automatic choices, traces, and examples use these category-qualified keys.
auto, mixed, and random select entrances only. Use an explicit canonical
key for emphasis, motion-path, or exit behavior.
The 29 established short names remain accepted only as compatibility inputs;
they normalize before writing and do not retain a second behavior engine.
Old Fly direction names all normalize to entrance_fly, and old Wipe
direction names all normalize to entrance_wipe; their direction is preserved
as an option rather than another canonical preset. Legacy wheel keeps four
spokes. Run
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/pptx_animations.py --list for the complete
categorized list. The four media playback commands are handled by the
audio/video workflows because they require media or bookmark targets.
Sound effects are off by default. PPT Master includes a global CC0 sound library, but it is not copied during strategy or ordinary project setup. First finish the SVG pages and choose the visual transition/object motion. Only when one of those resolved beats has a specific auditory job should you read the complete objective sound vocabulary, select one exact id, and sync the cue:
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/sound_sync.py \
<project> bigsoundbank/1797 kenney-interface/click_001The command copies only the selected files into
<project>/sounds/<namespace>/. With no selected cue, PPT Master creates no
project sound directory and copies nothing. After reviewing the vocabulary,
the CLI may narrow an already-considered label, tag, or context without deciding
fit:
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/sound_sync.py list --query whooshConfiguration always references the copied project-local path, never the
global templates/sounds/ path or a library id:
{
"version": 1,
"slides": {
"02_process": {
"transition": {
"effect": "push",
"sound": "sounds/bigsoundbank/1797.wav"
},
"groups": {
"next-step": {
"effect": "entrance_fade",
"sound": "sounds/kenney-interface/click_001.wav"
}
}
}
}
}transition.sound uses WAV. Object-animation sound also accepts an existing
project-relative or absolute .m4a, .mp3, or .wav input; bundled choices
are WAV and should use the copied project-relative path. A transition-only cue
may use a sparse animations.json; a slide-level transition.sound: null
clears an inherited default sound. Validate before export. Do not add sound
merely to demonstrate that the feature exists.
This validation proves the editable PPTX contains the native cue; it does not prove PowerPoint's MP4 audio track contains it. For direct narrated video with resolved cues, follow Audio Narration & Video Export and choose either the verified native-export sound mix or an explicit PowerPoint slideshow capture with system audio. Do not combine the two paths.
Use animations.json only when deck-wide settings are not enough—for example,
one object entering, moving, drawing attention, and then leaving. List the real
groups, write sparse overrides for only the affected slides and objects,
validate, and export. scaffold is an optional neutral editing starter: it
sets the default object effect to none, and untouched {} group entries do
not enable animation.
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/animation_config.py list-groups <project>
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/animation_config.py validate <project>
python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/svg_to_pptx.py <project>The sidecar targets stable top-level <g id="..."> content groups. A group ID
is a PowerPoint shape-target anchor, not an Animation Pane row. The compatible
single-effect object still creates one row; an effects[] array can create
several ordered rows that all target the same shape:
{
"version": 1,
"slides": {
"03_threshold": {
"animation": { "trigger": "after-previous" },
"groups": {
"risk-marker": {
"effects": [
{ "effect": "entrance_fade", "order": 1, "duration": 0.25 },
{ "effect": "path_right", "order": 2, "delay": 0.1, "duration": 0.7 },
{ "effect": "emphasis_teeter", "order": 3, "trigger": "with-previous", "duration": 0.45 },
{ "effect": "exit_fade", "order": 4, "trigger_shape": "details-button", "duration": 0.3 }
]
}
}
}
}
}A populated group uses either the legacy single-effect fields or the
{ "effects": [...] } form, never both. effects must be non-empty, and every
row names an explicit effect. Existing single-effect sidecars remain fully
compatible.
Common row fields are:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
effect |
Select one explicit effect; the legacy form may use none to keep that object static |
trigger |
Override this row's Start mode; otherwise inherit the slide animation trigger |
order |
Order ordinary rows across the slide without changing slide layers; trigger-shape rows remain in separate interactive sequences |
delay |
Add a pause to this row's resolved Start behavior |
duration |
Override this row's scheduled animation duration |
effect_options |
Set effect-specific direction, amount, color, font_name, relative, or size |
trigger_shape |
Trigger this row when another top-level group is clicked (PowerPoint On Click of) |
| Timing modifiers | repeat_count/repeat_duration, auto_reverse, rewind, accelerate, decelerate, bounce_end, and restart |
| Completion | after_effect (none, dim, hide, or hide on next click) |
| Sound cue | Optional project-local sound path; bundled choices follow the on-demand sync above |
order, delay, duration, trigger, and trigger_shape are resolved per
row. The slide-level animation trigger is inheritance only. trigger_shape
implies on-click; if the row also declares trigger, it must be
on-click.
Use python3 skills/ppt-master/scripts/pptx_animations.py --describe <canonical_effect> to see exactly which options that effect accepts. Speed is
controlled by duration; smooth start/end are controlled by
accelerate/decelerate. Change Font's font_name is one concrete
target-installed PowerPoint face, never a CSS font stack.
trigger_shape points to a different group id on the same slide and affects
only its row. Recorded narration rejects any row that resolves to on-click,
including trigger-shape rows.
When a user asks the AI to tune individual objects, use the customize-animations stage. The full sidecar schema and target-validation rules remain in the animation execution reference.
PPT Master validates animation settings strictly: unknown effects or Start modes, invalid timing values, missing slide/group references, and attempts to animate structural objects fail instead of silently changing behavior. Export also reads the candidate PPTX back before replacing an existing output.
| Boundary | User-facing consequence |
|---|---|
| Animation target | Element animation operates on logical top-level content-group anchors; one anchor may own several Animation Pane rows |
| Static structure | Backgrounds, Master/Layout content, placeholders, and page chrome remain static |
| Unsupported object builds | No paragraph/text-range builds, custom freeform motion-path authoring, native Chart/SmartArt build sequencing, or media playback commands are inferred from grouped SVG content |
| Output route | Animation exists in the native PPTX generated from svg_output/; svg_final/ is a static preview |
| Existing PPTX routes | Template Fill and Native Enhance preserve source object animation rather than translating it into this generated-deck model |
| PPTX-to-SVG import | Reconstructs only current-registry rows with exact native duration and unique top-level group targets; advanced/build/media timing remains diagnosed |
| Playback compatibility | Microsoft PowerPoint desktop is the primary validation target; Keynote, WPS, LibreOffice, and older Office versions may remap or omit individual effects |
For the full CLI reference, see svg-pipeline.md. For exact effect definitions, sidecar requirements, anchor fallback logic, and OOXML read-back rules, see the animation execution reference.